Launched in over 50 countries at the beginning of August 2020, Instagram’s new feature, IG Reels, is expected to be a big competitor for TikTok, especially with the possible ban of TikTok in the US on the horizon, their withdrawal from Hong Kong, and India’s own ban of the controversial app.

Although many people feel that Instagram Reels is simply copying TikTok, it has the potential to capture a much larger audience than TikTok which is mainly used by the younger crowd. In fact, demographics show that Instagram has over 1.5 billion active users, compared to around 1 billion active users on TikTok.

Instagram is a much more familiar platform to both brands and marketers, so it is likely that IG Reels will become a more popular alternative to TikTok to advertise and show off products, especially as Instagram provides analytics to show brands how their posts are performing.

It’s also going to remove the barrier for many influencers who haven’t been able to duplicate their following on TikTok, or are worried developing a following there and then having the app disappear – as it did for many influencers in Hong Kong.

Although Reels is not currently available for monetized advertising, Instagram is working hard to incorporate this into their new feature and believe that it could be an awesome resource both for brands to sell products and for their customers to easily make purchases with just a few taps.

IG Reels allows its users to create short, 15-second videos that can be amplified with music or augmented reality. Reels can either be made as a complete video or short clips cut together to make up the total time. You know what that’s perfect for? Showcasing fashion, in particular prom dresses.

Prom is an event that everyone looks forward to, and one of the best things about prom is hunting for, and finding, the perfect prom dress. Although you can spend hours online looking at numerous photographs on Pinterest and listings for prom dresses on online stores, quite often this doesn’t give you the most accurate representation of the dress and how it might actually look on a person. This is where Instagram Reels comes in very handy.

Instagram Reels allows brands to show off their prom dresses in more detail, and on an actual model, which can give you a better view of the entire dress and an idea of how it might look on you. At the very least, it can help you to decide which styles and colors you like the most, so that you can start to narrow down your search for that perfect prom dress.

Alternatively, you could make your own Reel, wearing a selection of prom dresses that you are trying to choose from, asking your followers to help you decide which you should wear to prom. This is perfect if you are finding it difficult to choose and are looking for much needed input, or if you don’t want to ruin the surprise, you could just show off some other prom dresses and keep your real pick a secret until the big night.

Instagram Reels is a great way to choose your prom dress, even if you don’t find your exact dream dress, it is the perfect place to get ideas and see what sort of dress you might be interested in and is much more exciting than trawling through endless prom dresses online. If you can find another girl or influencer who has a similar body shape and size to you, it’s particularly helpful because you can see exactly what the dress would look like on you – much easier than looking at willowy (albeit beautiful) models!

Author's Bio: 

Author, Freelance writer